Nirbhaya Convict Files Curative Petition, Says He Was Only 19 Years Then

Few days after a Delhi court issued a death warrant against the Nirbhaya gang-rape convicts, now one of the convicts has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the death penalty. The court had scheduled the hanging of the four convicts on Jan 22 at 7 a.m. in Tihar Jail. Convict Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, citing that Vinay was only 19 years at the time of the incident.

Key Takeaways:

• A Delhi court has issued a death warrant against the four convicts in the heinous Nirbhaya gang rape of 2012. 
• Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma were found guilty in 2012 gang-rape, torture and killing of a young paramedic student in Delhi.
• The 23-year-old student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped, tortured with an iron rod and her intestines culled out on a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. 
• Convict Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, citing that Vinay was only 19 years at the time of the incident. 

Convict Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, citing that Vinay was only 19 years at the time of the incident.

Commute Death Penalty To Life Imprisonment- The Petition States

Convict Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court citing that the convict was only 19 years at the time of the incident. He said that young age and socio-economic factors should've acted as mitigating factors. The plea also mentioned some other cases where the death penalty has been commuted to life imprisonment. There have been 17 such cases of rape and murder, to date, where the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment.

Also Read: Habituated to sex is no reason for granting bail to rapist: Supreme Court

About the Nirbhaya case

The girl, who was brutally raped and dumped naked, was named “Nirbhaya (fearless)”, after her death and her parents took up the campaign to get her justice. Asha Devi and Badrinath, organised Nirbhaya Chetna Diwas every year in their unfailing demand for justice for their daughter. After the Delhi court issued a death warrant against the four convicts on January 7, the convicts have 14 days to use their final legal options, including a curative petition before the Supreme Court.

Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma were found guilty in 2012 gang-rape, torture and killing of a young paramedic student in Delhi.

Ranjana Kumari of the Centre of Social Research said it took too long for the judgment. “The legal battle is won. This legal system should be reviewed if the judiciary is serious about the safety of women in the nation because if we have 117,000 rape cases pending in different courts and this is the kind of timeframe we are looking at, then the law will never become a deterrent for such crimes.”

Picture Credit:  India Today

Also Read: Seven Days Deadline For Nirbhaya Convicts To File Mercy Plea: Tihar Jail